Spain will be intent on keeping out of trouble for their World Cup quarter-final with South Korea on Saturday and avoid giving the co-hosts numerical advantage for the third game running.
In their final group D game with Portugal on June 14, South Korea finished the game playing against nine men, and won their second round game against Italy on Tuesday after their opponents were reduced to 10 in extra time when Francesco Totti was dismissed.
"We will try not to get any (yellow cards), but when you are playing you can't dwell on that. If you get a yellow card, you have to watch out, and then the game takes its course," Spanish defender Carles Puyol said after a training session on Wednesday.
Puyol declined to comment on any refereeing decisions taken in the World Cup so far, saying, "Refereeing is difficult"
The Barcelona player said his side were also prepared for the extraordinary vociferous support given so far by Korean fans in Saturday's quarter-final match in Kwangju.
"We know there is a lot of atmosphere when Korea play, which is normal for a home team. We will have to sidestep that and play our own game," Puyol said.
The Spanish side had keenly watched Tuesday's Korea-Italy game, but had no preference over who they would face in the quarter-finals. "It was all the same to us. Both are tough teams," Puyol said.
DEFENDING TOGETHER
"We will have to play the way we know how, defending together and keeping the ball, which is how we can do them some damage and they can't do us any," he added.
"We have seen that they're a good side which works very hard, runs a lot and fights to the very end. But we now have a few days to finish preparing for the Korea game.
"I think the Spanish side is fit too, so I don't think we need to change, although that depends on the coach."
Asked about the own goal he scored in Spain's group B match against Paraguay, which his team won 3-1, Puyol put it down to bad luck.
"It was a chance move. I didn't have time to react, the ball bounced off my foot and went in. It was bad luck," he said.
"At first you're not happy. The only thing to do is forget it and keep playing, because there is still a lot of the game left and you certainly can't help your team mates if you only think about having put the ball in your own net," he added.
